Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was a long day and my legs are feeling it this morning! From wandering outside at 9 to find breakfast, to trekking miles across the city for the rally, and finally just trying to find a non-packed Metro car to get home, I was ready to fall into bed last night.

I woke up past 8am this morning, too, which is unusually late for me. Guess I needed to catch up on some Zzzzs!

The Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear, you can’t forget that part 😉 was so much fun and so worth it, though. 😀

It was the perfect day weather-wise to be outside, with temperatures in the low 60s and a brightly shining sun. Not too warm to be sweaty, not too chilly to be shivering.

The rally permit called for 60,000 people but that number was definitely exceeded yesterday. Metro ridership more than doubled — I was so happy to be able to walk down to the Mall and not deal with the crowds going downtown — and the Park Service had to open up sections of the Mall that weren’t planned for.

Even if you biked, there were crowding issues.

Since Comedy Central seemed unprepared for as many people as attended, they didn’t have nearly enough screens or a loud enough sound system, the only disappointment from the day. People found vantage points wherever possible.

Look at this crowd! It was packed elbow-to-elbow most of the way up the Mall from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

A lot of people brought funny and ironic signs in the spirit of the rally. I had a few fun ideas — my top choice was going to be simply I’m hungry but I ended up not bringing one.

A few faves:

There were also a lot of Stewart/Colbert ’12 and This Is A Sign signs. The rally was meant to be nonpolitical and fun but the crowd was definitely liberal-leaning, with plenty of people mocking the Tea Party and more than a few Christine O’Donnell look-alikes wearing witches’ hats decorated with tea bags. 😉

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert spent most of the show in character, taking opposing sides on different hot-button political issues but making fun of both political parties and all extreme ideologies. Washington sees a lot of rallies and protests but this was was definitely unique.

At the beginning, this was my view:

Hi Jon!

As the show continued, I was able to edge my way over to a better view.

Cat Stevens, anyone?

The cool part was that the unexpected guests just kept coming. The leaked agenda including Sheryl Crow and The Roots but didn’t mention Ozzy Osbourne, Cat Stevens, John Legend or many other musicians and celebrities that walked onstage. It was totally unexpected, which made it even more fun. You never knew who was going to walk onto the stage.

Comedy Central threw a great — and free! — event, all the better for being right in my hometown. Very convenient. 😉 But next time, let’s up the number of big screens and crank up the sound, okay?

What did you do yesterday? Anyone else go to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear?

Hi, I'm Erin, a DC-based writer and editor trying to eat her way around the world. Share your top travel tips, favorite spots to grab a bite or off-the-beaten-path DC hang-outs by emailing me or following me on Twitter.